Hagley Oval: Ellyse Perry, the star all-rounder, is most likely to play as a specialist batter in the ICC Women’s World Cup final against England, Aussie skipper Meg Lanning said on Saturday. The 31-year-old great all-rounder has been given a strong opportunity to play in Australia’s playing XI against England at the Hagley Oval on Sunday.
“Ellyse got through a pretty hard and high-intensity session yesterday and she’s trained again today and is feeling pretty good,” Lanning said at the pre-match press conference.
“It will just depend on how she pulls up sort of this afternoon, that will be the final hurdle she needs to get over. But at this stage, it is looking pretty good.
“She can definitely play as a specialist bat and that’s probably the most likely scenario. She hasn’t bowled for a couple of weeks now and it would be difficult for her to come out and bowl in a final,” she added.
We're so close to the #CWC22 final!
Who will lift the trophy in Christchurch tomorrow? pic.twitter.com/U5lyfTJNGq
— ICC (@ICC) April 2, 2022
Australia and England are the most successful teams in the history of the Women’s One-Day International World Cup and were regarded frontrunners for the trophy in the present 12th ODI season.
The script could not have played out any better for Australia, which is now ranked first in the world. They began their campaign with a 12-run victory over England, thanks to a record partnership between skipper Meg Lanning and her deputy Rachael Haynes. It launched them on an eight-match tournament and 11-ODI unbeaten streak that dated back to the Ashes in January-February.
That they didn’t field the same XI for two successive matches until their premier allrounder Ellyse Perry was ruled out of their last league fixture speaks to the make-up of a squad full of impact players. For a team that scripted a world-record 26 ODI wins on the trot in response to their shock elimination in the 2017 World Cup semi-final, one last ‘W’ to their name in this edition would be a fitting crescendo in their pursuit of redemption.
